SES Chapter 222 Part 1

Chapter 222

For a while, no one spoke.

Yi Wan San started eating. One bun after another. It was as if his stomach had to be filled before his brain could start working again.

He finally asked Luo Ren, “This plan… is it safe?”

“Of course it’s not safe,” Luo Ren said calmly. “I’m just carving out a third path between two choices: ‘die,’ or ‘live on without hope.’ It’s like drilling a tunnel straight down when there’s no road left. Whether it leads anywhere, whether it’s safe—no one knows. That’s why I won’t decide for you. You choose. Do you gamble on it, or not?”

If they were going to take the gamble, it had to be now. If they waited until the Fierce Slips broke free again, they’d have to go through the whole subjugation process all over—and next time, there was no guarantee it would go this smoothly.

Yan Hongsha frowned. “But… we’ll die in a few decades anyway. What happens to the Fierce Slips then?”

Luo Ren pointed at the wooden slips and the Phoenix Luan clasp on the table. “That’s perfect, isn’t it? Old age is still death. We offer our lives to the Phoenix Luan clasp, let the malevolent energy reattach to the wooden slips, and lock the two of them together again.”

Dying of old age… did that even count?

Yan Hongsha thought for a moment, then suddenly felt justified. Of course, it counted. Death was death. Why wouldn’t it count?

Cao Yanhua panicked, his mind racing through his own sordid past. “That won’t work, right? Hosting seven Fierce Slips—wouldn’t that take a saint to suppress them? I—I’ve got bad morals! I was a thief!”

Following the principle of “misery loves company,” he dragged Yi Wan San into it too. “And my brother San—fraud, scams—you really dig into it, he could’ve gotten two years!”

What kind of friends were these? Yi Wan San was furious.

“And another thing,” Cao Yanhua went on, the more he thought, the worse it sounded. “If we let seven Fierce Slips enter our bodies, what if they wreak havoc inside us? Would we even survive?”

Luo Ren nodded. “Good point. Any other questions?”

There were plenty. The Fierce Slips were afraid of their blood—would the other six really cooperate? Would it just end with possession, or would other things happen?

Luo Ren listened quietly, then said, “Good questions. Unfortunately, I can’t answer any of them.”

“Cao Pangpang, I don’t have the answers. I’m just like you—trying to solve the problem. I hope the result is right, but if fate hands us the wrong answer, there’s nothing I can do.”

“Try it, or don’t. State your choice.”

Cao Yanhua looked at Mu Dai. “Brother Luo, you already discussed this with my little master last night, didn’t you? You both agreed. So what does ‘stating our choice’ mean? Majority rules?”

Luo Ren shook his head. “This is gambling with your lives. No one should be forced to submit to the majority. If anyone disagrees, we stop.”

Cao Yanhua hesitated. “We have to decide… now? Brother Luo, can’t we have a couple more days? This is… too sudden.”

Before he could finish, chopsticks slapped loudly onto the table.

Yan Hongsha.

She drained her bowl of soy milk in one go, foam still clinging to her lips. “I’m in.”

“Why wouldn’t I be? In foreign casinos, nobody knows the outcome—people gamble purely on luck, and tons of them still go all in. What Luo Ren said makes sense. If it costs a life, then so be it. A life that’s still alive is worth more than a pile of rotting flesh. I’m in.”

Cao Yanhua jumped. “Hongsha, shouldn’t you think about it more?”

“Think what?” she shot back. “Think of it as a miracle?”

Yi Wan San considered it. “As things stand, unless we find a better way out, this plan is worth trying. If we don’t do it, we’re just waiting to die—early or late. I’m… in too.”

What? That fast?

Four to one. That felt bad. Like being isolated from the group. Everyone else was in—being the lone dissenter would just be awkward. Cao Yanhua hesitated, then followed along. “Then… I’ll join too.”

Luo Ren said, “No. Cao Pangpang. Don’t follow the crowd.”

What? Now he wasn’t even allowed to join?

Cao Yanhua panicked. “Brother Luo, I really mean it!”

“Think it over. Don’t feel pressured.”

“No pressure! I’m sincere! My heart is truly—really—absolutely in!”

Watching him scratch his head in panic, babbling nonsense, Mu Dai burst out laughing.

Luo Ren said, “In that case, the wine wasn’t bought for nothing. Let’s have a toast.”

Cao Yanhua craned his neck. “Wine? What wine?”

Mu Dai stood up and lifted the polished metal cover nearby. She’d thought it was soup—but underneath was a jar of Luzhou Laojiao. Clay-sealed, red cloth tied with twine, surrounded by shallow antique-style wine bowls.

Luo Ren removed the seal and poured for everyone. Each took a bowl. The clear liquor shimmered, its sharp aroma rising. Yan Hongsha held her bowl with both hands, her cheeks burning with excitement.

It felt like swearing brotherhood in a peach garden—blood oaths, life and death together. She imagined smashing the bowl afterward and charging forward over the shards, fearless and resolute.

Luo Ren seemed to read her mind and coughed. “The bowls are borrowed from the hotel. We have to return them.”

Yan Hongsha immediately steadied her grip.

After clinking bowls, no one drank right away. Yi Wan San looked at Luo Ren. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

Luo Ren smiled. “Everyone, say a few words. Whatever comes to mind.”

Yan Hongsha rushed to go first. “I hope Luo Ren’s plan works. That everything afterward goes smoothly. That everyone stays safe and lives long lives.”

She tilted her head back and drank it all in one go. The heat burned down into her stomach and rushed back up to her face, her cheeks flushing deep red.

Cao Yanhua said, “Bold as expected. Truly from a great family.”

A great family? Did he mean the Yan family’s generations of treasure hunters? Even with her uncle’s violent death and her grandfather’s disgrace, the praise made her spine straighten with pride.

Yi Wan San spoke next. “Hongsha said everything already. I don’t ask for much—stay alive, stay safe, keep my arms and legs intact, and…”